Once you have located your sources, you will need to look at the studies and make sure that your research question and working thesis are not changed by the source information you find.

If your thesis does change, that is great. One of the major reasons we look at additional sources and a variety of perspectives is to evaluate our own opinions and beliefs. Often when we have additional information, we change our opinions on issues.

Therefore, you do no want to only use sources which support your initial belief, or try to make your sources say what you need them to say in order for you to retain your original thesis. You want to develop your thesis based on the evidence and arguments you encounter during your research.

The clearer you are on your working thesis and research question, the easier it will be for you to take notes on your sources. If you know what information is important for your paper, you will be able to focus on that information in your notes.

However you decide to take notes on your source information, do take good notes which will minimize your having to come back to the sources later. I recommend a good annotated bibliography in addition to your notes. The bibliography will allow you to be able to look back at the sources and remember what they were about. You will be able to make more sense of the notes with some general background information on the source as well.

If you plan to use direct quotes in your paper from particular sources, make sure you write down the quote carefully, word for word, and note the page number on which the quote occurs.

Citing Information
If you use any facts, figures, or general information from a source, you must indicate the source of the information and cite the page number on which the information occurs.

For example, if you are arguing that the global warming trend can be determined by evidence in ice and are using R. Monasterskyıs figures as evidence, your citation might look something like:

• The warming trend of the planet has been evidenced by analysis of ice caps around the world. R. Monastersky says that these anlyses show that warming trends in some areas are greater than they have been in over 12,000 years (671).

**an exception to citing facts and figures and information would be in the case of incorporating "common knowledge" information such as census numbers, well known facts, etc.

Paraphrasing and summarizing information
We have discussed the difference between paraphrase and summary. Paraphrase maintains about the same about information as the original but places it into the writerıs own words. Summary boils the argument down to main ideas.

In general, you use paraphrase if it is important that you maintain a whole part of an argument. Summary of points is most effective when the supporting information from the original is not necessary in your own argument.

In either case, you must acknowledge the article and author you are drawing from. Ideally, this should be done within the text (see "signal phrases"), and the page number in parenthetical citation, as in the example above.

Quoting
In general, you should keep quoting to a minimum. For this class you are writing a relatively short paper and you are responsible for writing the majority of it. Do not include lengthy quote unless they absolutely cannot be avoided. There are two types of quotation which are acceptable for this type and length of research paper:

• individual words and phrases: for accuracy, you will quote the exact terminology the author uses in the source you are drawing from. This would include specialized terms or evaluative terms.
• quoting a brief sentence or passage: sometimes the original source has a certain flair and says in a brief passage something which will lend a great deal of style and credibility to your own paper. Use this type of quote sparingly and only when it serves a clear an effective purpose.

Block quotations
If you should make the decision to use a bit longer quote in your paper (and I would advise you to do this very sparingly--only when absolutely necessary), and the quote takes up more than 3 lines of text (that is, if the quote is 4 lines of typed text or more), you will need to ³block quote² the section. Block quotes are set off with a colon ( : ), idented 10 spaces (2 tabs), are single spaced (unlike the rest of your text which will be double spaced), and do not use quotation marks. If I were writing an essay about using sources, an example of a block quote might follow.

Paraphrasing sources is often a quite effective way to maintin the original content from the source without relying heavily on quotes. Ramage and Bean suggest that:

	
	Unlike summary, which is a condensation of an essy, a paraphrase is a
	"translation" of an essay into the writer's own words. It is approximately
	the same lenght as the origninal, but converts the original into the 
	writer's own voice.  Be careful when you paraphrase to avoid both the 
	original writerıs words an the writer's grammatical structure and syntax. (398)

Using paraphrase carefully is important so that a writer avoids the consequences of plagiarism.

Inserted quotations--Signal phrases
Shorter quotes (which I recommend more than block quotes) can be inserted directly into your own writing. In inserted quotes, you will use quotation marks around the actual quoted material. Do NOT just drop a sentence from an outside source into your own writing without some introduction or context. Please do not use a quoted sentence as if it is just another sentence in the paragraph. For example, the following use of quotation would be innapropriate:

• In a research paper, the use of outside sources is very important to establish credibility for your argument. "A good research argument weaves together supporting material from a variety of sources; It doesnıt paraphrase someone else's argument" (Ramage 394).

If the quotation is a complete sentence (as in the poor example above, introduce it with a ³signal phrase² and a comma, and begin the quote with a capital letter. Here is a revision of that above example:

• In a research paper, the use of outside sources is very important to establish credibility for your argument. However, as Ramage and Bean point out, "A good research argument weaves together supporting material from a variety of sources; It doesn't paraphrase someone else's argument" (Ramage 394).

Signal phrases set up your quotes. A list of signal phrases might include:

• According to Ramage,
• Ramage and Bean argue,
• Ramage claims,
• In their textbook Writing Arguments, Ramage and Bean say,
• The author suggests,
• Ramage shows,
• Ramage uses,

Try to set up the quote as grammatically smooth as possible. If you canıt make a quote sound natural within the paper by utilizing signal phrases and modification (see below), consider not using it. You want the quote to enhance your essay, not detract from it.

Modifying Quotes
If a quote doesnıt fit smoothly into the flow of your paper, you can modify the wording a little as long as you indicate those modifications. You might need to put the quote in a different tense, you might want to make a pronoun gender balanced, or you might not want to include the entire wording from the quote.

To change or add clarifying words within the quote, use brackets [ ] around the changes:

• According to Ramage, "By paraphrasing s/he [the writer]is able to retain the content from the original" (324).

• Ramage explains an ellipse as follows: ³Made with three spaced periods. . . , an ellipsis indicates that words [are] omitted² (400).

Quotes within Quotes
If in your quote, the original also uses quotation marks, use a single quotation mark within your double quotes:

• Ramage explains that a "paraphrase is a 'translation' of an essay" (398).

If you use the authorsı name or the title of the essay/article/book in the sentence in which you quote, or it is clear from a previous sentence what work you are quoting, include the page number on which the quote appears.

If you do not provide the authorıs name or title of the work in the surrounding information, also include the authorıs last name in the cite.

The parenthesis comes after the last quotation mark and the period comes AFTER the parenthesis. No other period comes before.

• example of just page:
  ". . . another's work" (342).
• example of author and page:
  " . . . another's work" (Ramage 342).